The Illinois Women’s Military And Civilian Memorial

Freelance website redesign

In the spring of 2013, a Central Illinois resident phoned a few schools at Illinois State in search of a student to work on a website redesign. I was among the few students working on freelance projects within the community, so she was given my information. We met and discussed her project and I happily took it on.

The Illinois Women’s Military and Civilian Memorial project involved a lot of the challenges that came with website redesigns of the 2010s: outdated appearance and functionality, old code, and minimal accessibility. Oh, and no original designer anywhere to be found.

Broken code and an outdated layout before the redesign

Pamela and I sifted through everything that we did have, though, and I was able to migrate content and code snippets from GoDaddy to WordPress. The new site features all new content, a responsive layout, an interactive memorial map, and scores of profiles that share personal stories.

Clean and responsive with a clear hierarchy and easy navigation after redesign

Clients tend to want access to their websites these days, and that’s a good thing—who wants to pay someone to make small changes if they’re capable of doing it themselves? As such, when we wrapped up the project, I produced walkthrough videos with a studio microphone and screen recordings so that Pamela would always know how to access and update her website.

A measure of success: IWMCM.org is still functioning four years later. Pamela, armed with her new WordPress knowledge, hasn’t had to reach out to me for any help.